1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to soft-pack medication accessing, and more particularly, is directed to an opening which enables a user to open a blister component of a soft pack of medication. By soft pack is meant a plastic and/or foil or other "push the pill or capsule out" type of medication inner package commonly known as "blister packs". Thus, the present invention is directed to an opener for soft packs of medication with individual dosage opening capabilities. The present invention is directed to a blister pack opener-ejector device and more particularly a three component device having a first component which is a blister pusher, a second component which is a blister positioner and a third component which is a blister cutter/pill ejector. The components may be unistructurally formed with living hinges or may be individually molded components which are snapped or otherwise fitted together.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
Various inner packaging of medications have evolved over the past couple of decades which involves individual dosages arranged so as to be separated from one another within a blister pack, a paperpack, a metal/foil pack or a pack which uses a combination of materials. These may enclose powder, pills, capsules or even liquid caps or other medication dosage collections. Thus, while the application herein refers to "soft packs" or "blister packs" such terms should be read herein so as to include any type of packaging which has more than a flat shape for enclosure of individual medication dosages for easy, push out usage.
As these various forms of packaging evolved, some by mere design were difficult to open and others were intentionally made more difficult to open in order to prevent or discourage small children from easily pushing pills out of the blister packs. These packs sometimes became very difficult for the average person to open and even discouraged the purchase of over-the-counter medications packaged in this manner. Further, even those that were relatively easy for the average adult to open, were difficult for handicapped, senior citizens and people with arthritis and other hand impediments. As a result, some developments in the past decade have led to packaging with dispensing capabilities.
Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,190 to Heinz Schmidgall discloses a method and apparatus for packaging and dispensing stain removing agents in small, individualized capsules. The stain removing agents are preferably in paste form. The individual capsules are readily deformable and are stored in individual troughs in a receiving plate which, in turn, is covered by a covering sheet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,717 to James E. Richardson describes a tablet package for use in chronologically dispensing tablets which includes a sheet of material having pockets therein for receiving tablets, a frangible closure layer secured to the sheet of material to enclose the tablets and a plurality of time related indicia disposed on the closure layer associated with each tablet and aligned with the pockets such that dispensing of a tablet ruptures the closure layer to obliterate the indicia associated with that tablet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,568 issued to Howard E. Berner involves a container for capsules and the like having a cutter associated with the container for cutting the capsules. Hinged upper and lower portions of the container have cutting members secured thereto. Closure of the container portions effects cutting of a capsule inserted between the cutting members. In the preferred embodiments, the cutting members comprise a trough-shaped notch in the front wall of one of the container portions and a blade secured to the front wall of the other of the container portions, the blade and notch being superposed. An internal compartment is provided to receive a cut portion of a capsule.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,806 to Nathan S. Lieptz describes a pill-splitting implement or tool having self-centering means for positioning a pill in desired alignment with the path of movement of a pill-engaging projection in the form of a blade, wedge or edge. The projection is movably associated with the pill-holding structure, which preferably retains the pill in an elevated position above a support base to provide a clearance space or area underlying the pill to enhance clean, sharp splitting of the pill. The pill holding means is preferably of a resilient character to accommodate and yield to the displacement of the pill during the splitting or dividing operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,384,649 issued to Louis Brodsky and assigned to E.R. Squibb and Sons, Inc. describes a dispensing package which includes a blister pack and cover with an outer shell wherein the blister pack has multiple pockets for receiving medications and the outer shell has means for sealing the cover around each pocket of the blister pack. In one embodiment the outer shell has a rim which includes studs which align with the blister pack which includes cut-outs so that when it is closed, it affords easier removal of individual medication by the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,427 to Thomas A. Cafiero discloses card-type packages for holding and displaying flexible capsules and the like, and more particularly to a card having a puncturing means for opening the capsules.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,054, issued to Robert E. Newell and Robert A. Fitzsimmons and assigned to Glaxo Group Limited, describes a package for administering medicine to patients which includes a circular carrier disk which has a puncture means for removing individual medication dosages from circular blister packs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,866 to Ralph Bartell et al. involves a device for holding and dispensing pills in a successive order. Pills are mounted in a compact in a single row in the desired successive order and a pill ejector is arranged for incremental movement in one direction along the compact. When the pill ejector is adjacent to a pill, a bendable member is displaced to push the pill out of a blister type package and through an opening in the rear of the compact.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,125, issued to Thomas M. Rebne and David Esslinger and assigned to Marion Marrell Dow, Inc. describes a dispensing container which includes means for pushing individual pills or groups of pills from a blister pack within the dispensing container. The method involves removal of individual dosages from the container without removing the blister pack from the container. While this system relies upon puncturing the blister pack and pushing the pills out, there is no child resistant aspect to it as shown in the present invention. In other words, a user does not remove a blister pack and strategically place it within a puncture mechanism as in the present invention in order to remove medication from the blister pack.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,984 issued on May 5, 1992 to Jarome M. Romick, describes a unit dosage medication handling and dispensing system. These devices receive blister packs and hold them in place and present open bottoms so that medications may be pushed through the blister pack bottom and through the openings in the bottom of the device.
Notwithstanding the stated prior art, it is believed that the present invention is neither taught nor rendered obvious as the present invention specifically accomplishes the dual purpose of enabling a user to more easily puncture and remove medication from a blister pack while making it difficult for a child to do so by having an unattached and therefore remote puncturing mechanism which requires a blister pack to be removed from the container and properly inserted into the opener and then further requires proper usage of the opener device itself for puncture of the blister pack and subsequent removal of the medication.